Dave's Dogmatic Dribbles - Tour de France - Stage 16

Good morning Tour de France! There's nothing like a red zone heart rate first thing in the morning to get you going.

Good morning Tour de France! There?s nothing like a red zone heart rate first thing in the morning to get you going. What a start today as the racers face an hors category climb. Here are a couple of secrets for the day. Soler will try to win the polka dot jersey and Discovery will attack. I don?t think it will do any good to send Popo and George out. Rabobank can just sit and watch them go by. It also doesn?t do any good for Levi to sit behind Contador and Rasmussen all day. I say attack with Levi before the last climb. My feeling is the GC contender who wins the stage today will win the Tour.

Soler starts his attack on the first climb. He?s still behind a lead group who broke away earlier. Soler goes over the top in 5 th place taking 12 points. After the second climb, Soler and friends Sastre and Mayo catch the leaders. Soler takes more points by being 1 st over on the third climb. This could all be for nothing if he?s not there in the end. Check back with him in a few hours and see. Guess what, Soler is first at the next summit.

Sastre changes the tempo with 14km to go with his attack. Soler is on his wheel. Mayo joins Sastre and Soler is sliding back slightly. Here comes the GC group with an attack by Popo. Say goodbye to Sastre, Mayo, and Soler. Now we see something from Leipheimer as he attacks. The decision has been made to get Contador on top of the box in Paris. Contador has to make his move before the last km.

Just as I say that, he?s off! It looks like Discovery is going to work them over with Levi and Contador trading off attacks. Evans is gutting it out trying to stay with them. Oh yeah, that guy in yellow is always close. At one point, it looked like Contador was going to get away and then it seemed like he sat up and waited!? He can?t put the nail in the coffin.

Levi is the new Yo-Yo man. He has surged back to be with his teammate. It?s two against one now. C?mon Discovery! It?s not going to happen for Alberto as Michael powers away. He will win the stage and the Tour. Levi will take second (in the stage only). Levi finally showed us something today.

Michael is the man. He didn?t always look fresh but he never cracked. Now if he can only keep from falling in the time trial!